Florida Rep. Calls for Social Security Compromise

WASHINGTON -- Representative E. Clay Shaw Jr., Republican of Florida, says he hopes to promote his own Social Security plan as a potential compromise between Republicans and Democrats, The New York Times reported.

Shaw, a former chairman of the House Social Security subcommittee who announced the first version of his plan six years ago, said he believed it was time for compromise, "if we can find somebody to compromise with." His plan centers on voluntary retirement savings accounts added to Social Security that would not be financed by payroll taxes, as they would under President Bush's plan. Under Shaw's plan, accounts would be financed by a refundable income tax credit, capped at $1,000 a year, and would require substantial government borrowing.

Such "add-on" accounts have been widely considered a potential compromise on the Social Security issues, since Democrats are strongly opposed to diverting payroll taxes for such accounts. Shaw said in an interview on Sunday that he was shopping his plan on his own, without the blessing of the Republican leadership or the White House.

In a measure of how polarized Capitol Hill has become on this issue, Shaw said he planned to meet with some Democratic senators, but he declined to name them. In the House, he said of Democrats: "They're just dug in to say no. There's nobody really to talk to on the House side."

-- NYSSCPA.org News Staff

Posted on 2/28/05